Granny death panels: I think not.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

According to a recent study Americas are living longer with death at the age of 78 the national average.

But one corundum is: are we living longer at higher and higher cost to the health care system? That is are we living with disease but prolonging our deaths, or are we living quality lives?

I cannot think that my life will be up in 12 or 13 years. That doesn't give me much time! On the other hand, am I doing enough to make it a quality life, instead of one of merely waiting for death?

Eating less processed foods, less meat, more fruits and vegetables, drinking more water (and a glass of wine) each day, I hope will stave off old age. I certainly don't feel old, even though I have to acknowledge that my senior status comes with age, not mentality. I may not be bungee jumping off bridges and yanking my spine out of alignment, but I'm not exactly sitting on my duff watching television either.

I look forward each season to kayaking, sailing, hiking and strolling, swimming, going to the shore. ( Yes, I still worry what I look like in a bathing suit.) I never want to pass up a winter without skiing in the glorious mountains and taking in their beauty and that wonderful clean air. Show me how to do it, and I will try almost anything that will not compromise the health of my body, well almost anything, I will NOT jump out of an airplane, parachute or none.

Perhaps my activities are not as gutsy as they once were, but I still want to do them. I want to get on my bike and ride, I want to travel and see parts of the world and experience the tastes and cultures of foreign places.

I want to live drug free, even if that means I will have to change my bad habits for good ones, or drop a food or two from my menu, or add new ones that can help me. If it means more exercise to work the parts of my body that are being underutilized, so be it. I cannot see giving in to dis-ease and chronic conditions that require drugs and a lesser quality of life. I do not wish to spend my last days in bed. I want to be alive and kicking when I go!

And how about you? What are you doing to preserve and extend your life?